Germany's 37 million households will soon be paying half as much on their annual electricity bills as Australian households. An average German household pays just $1060, or about $88 a month, for electricity to run their computers, lights and other household appliances, while an Australian household in 2013 will be paying a whopping $2117, or $176 a month, according to the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC).

Australian retail electricity prices will rise 37 per cent from 2010-2014 (AEMC), widening the chasm between German and Australian bills and bringing hardship to Australian families already doing it tough from the high dollar and the financial crisis. And it’s going to get worse. As our electricity bills soar, Germany's electricity bills will rise minimally. According to the German energy agency (DENA), bills will rise just 20 per cent by 2020. For most families this will be offset by the legislated German-wide 20 per cent energy efficiency target, which will result in a further reduction of electricity consumption in German homes, reducing bills even more.

This may be contrary to what you've read in the popular press and understand about relative electricity costs between our two countries. Germans and Australians are basically paying the same amount for each retail unit of electricity at the meter, with Germans paying 0.31 Australian cents today which Australians will match next year (0.31 cents in 2013/14). The difference is the volume purchased, as highlighted above. Germany has a comprehensive climate and energy security policy suite that drives renewable growth and energy efficiency across the economy, which has led to average households that use half as much electricity as Australian households.

Germany's low electricity bills are saving families so that they can now spend on the important things in life, but that's not all that Germany's highly efficient electricity sector has achieved with its lower bills for consumers:

Wind turbines. You either love them (like 75 per cent of us), or hate them (15 per cent). Or, you couldn’t care less.

Coal mines: you either love them, like those who reap their profits (20 per cent), or you hate them (80 per cent), like those who have to live near them.

The problem of differing public attitudes to energy sources has been discussed at great length and with an increasingly hollow invective. To break the logjam, we need a mechanism of comparison that satisfies people’s intellectual, emotional and political intelligence.

Published last November, Andrew Charlton’s Quarterly Essay Man-Made World: Choosing between progress and the planet made some fundamentally important points: that solutions to climate change must allow for economic development in poorer countries; that a large part of the solution is available from improved technology; and that “our goal should be to create a world with abundant, clean and cheap energy for all.” However there are other data and other analyses leading to other conclusions.

The feasibility of a 100 per cent renewable energy future has been demonstrated by the Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan, an award-winning analysis published by Beyond Zero Emissions, with The University of Melbourne Energy Research Institute in 2010. The Plan confirms that currently available renewable technologies are sufficient to meet the climate challenge. No peer reviewed analysis has challenged the feasibility of the Plan. Neither the Stationary Energy Plan, data nor analyses were referred to by Charlton.

Fortunately for the Federal Government, it can use a “Leaf” to hide its growing embarrassment at being exposed for suppressing its own report warning of sharp declines in global oil production in five years time.

In 2009, Transport Minister Anthony Albanese’s Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) published Report 117, which revealed “at some point beyond 2017 we must begin to cope with the longer-term task of replacing oil as a source of energy. Given the inertias inherent in energy systems and vehicle fleets, the transition will be necessarily challenging to most economies aroundthe world”.

Unconventional gas emissions up to seventy times worse than industry claims - immediate moratorium a must

Real time air sampling of gas fields in the US has shown leakage rates of up to over seventy times greater than the rates assumed by industry and accepted by government in Australia.

The study by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado, has found rates of fugitive emissions fugitive emissions up to 7.7%, with a mean of 4% .

"If US government agency NOAA is offering a hard estimate at 4% for a field north of Denver in Colorado then Australian fields are likely to have that sort of rate of release if not more, says Matthew Wright, Executive Director of Beyond Zero Emissions

Do you have Solar Power at home? Lots of Australian homes now do have rooftop solar panels now, thanks partly due to government subsidies, but we have been less successful in developing large scale solar generation projects in Australia.

In the latest setback, the first two planned projects under the federal governments solar flagships program failed to meet the deadline to secure financial backing. One has been granted extra time, while the government has been forced to reopen tenders for the other project.

Beyond Zero Emissions is calling for a complete cessation of CSG mining and exploration activities across NSW and QLD following the verified leak of toxic chemicals into the environment at a NSW CSG field owned by SANTOS.

"All CSG activities must stop to protect farming, state and national governments must order an immediate cessation of exploration and extraction across NSW and QLD in light of the continued problems that are plaguing the industry" said Wright

"It is obvious that Coal Seam Gas (CSG) mining is resulting in the destruction of our natural environment and poisoning of our waterways and land" said Matthew Wright Executive Director of climate and energy security think-tank Beyond Zero Emissions.

"Following a series of ongoing issues at multiple sites, it is clear that these problems aren't going away and this industry can't operate safely or in a way that doesn't pose a significant risk of harm the community" said Wright.

"Our hardworking farmers rely on untainted clean water in order to supply safe food to consumers in our cities, SANTOS and other operators such as AGL and QGC are gatecrashing established agricultural communities with their toxic mining practices and destroying the very land the nation relies on to be able to meet the demands for our daily fresh food and vegetables." said Wright

THE recent clinching of a $1.9 billion Australian defence contract by the Germans illustrates to carbon price knockers that they need look no further for proof that an economy which relies on renewable energy can outsmart one dependent on fossil fuels.

Germany's electricity sector delivers 21 per cent of its power from renewable sources, such as the wind and the sun. Just 8.5 per cent of Australian power is provided by these sources, despite the fact that our continent has them in spades compared to the Germans.

This month it was reported that a Bendigo workshop planned to lay off 50 staff because it had missed out on a government contract to supply vehicles for the Australian Army.

The tender for Land 121 Phase 3 military vehicles was won late last year by German consortium Rheinmetall MAN which will export about 2,700 fully assembled vehicles to Australia.

Feed-in tariffs have been shown time and again to be the superior market-based policy instrument for getting the best renewable energy deployed. However, if the government chooses to use grant mechanisms, the Department of Resources Energy and Tourism need to get a lot better at evaluating technologies.

Through Solar Flagships the government wanted to showcase one photovoltaic and one solar thermal plant.

Energy Freedom

BZE has launched Energy Freedom, helping Australians to transform their homes into renewable energy powerhouses. Check out our new website for the 9 steps to energy freedom.

About

Beyond Zero Emissions Inc. is a not-for-profit research and education organisation known for its work designing and implementing a zero emissions economy for Australia. Its goal is to transform Australia from a 19th century fossil fuel based, emissions intensive, economy to a 21st-century renewable-energy-powered clean-tech economy.Read more